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Saugatuck, a beautiful lake town located on the west coast of Michigan, was once called “the coolest city in Michigan” by the former Michigan Governor Jeniffer Granholm. I actually cannot agree more with her. Saugatuck not only has the one of the most beautiful historic downtowns in the nation, it also has the best freshwater beach, the Oval Beach, and a series of really cool sand dunes. Downtown Saugatuck itself is filled with parks, art galleries and little gathering places like Chocolate stores and coffee places.

If that is not cool enough, downtown Saugatuck has something that you probably have never seen in any other cities. It has a public tennis court right in the middle of their downtown for everyone to use! What’s more, they also built a nicely done restroom right next to it.

The first time I saw these facilities I was thinking like how they could be so generous? They could have built a couple more inns or something else that can make a lot of money. Instead they made it an open space space for the public to use. This is totally a different kind of thinking when city planners plan a city.

Well, I guess it makes sense that a tennis court is planned in downtown Saugatuck since it is a touristy area. But I could see it happening in other cities of a bigger size. Tennis court to me is just a different representation of an open space in a city, it is no different then a park. Yes the making of a tennis court costs land and money while building something can bring in quick cash. The properly done open space provides a better living quality and increase its neighboring land value in the long term. Dolores Park in San Francisco is a great example of that. Lets hope that the people who visit Saugatuck will bring back home a piece of good city planning.